Combat AI-controlled Trooper Droid
* *Ember Coalition |era=*Post-War Era }} Combat AI-controlled trooper Droid, also known as CAT Droid, was a line of AI controlled droids designed and produced by Kingsway Robotics. This class of humanoid droid was designed to fill in the ranks of the badly undermanned UNSC military personal. The CAT Droid could fulfill a wide variety of tasks as long as they were directed by a "dumb" or "Smart" AI. While the droid only saw limited service within the and ONI security forces it saw increased use within planetary militias and police forces. A civilian model was even produced for hard labor such as working in mines or construction. The CAT Droid would quickly become a favorite for larger and wealthier terrorist and crime organizations such as the Ember Coalition. History Development and field testing The Combat AI-controlled Trooper Droid was first suggested for development some time before the end of the but was not field tested some time after the war. A few high ranking UNSC officers showed interest in the project and backed it with both money and materials. The first few CAT Droids were produced on in the Kingsway Robotics owned facility in the city of . Here the UNSC military AI, Dietrich, was assigned to help develop and test the software that would link each CAT Droid to him. While the software was easy enough to produce it did have some glitches at first as well as some major limitation. While it there was no problem with Dietrich commanding a few CAT Droids, the software simply couldn't handle Dietrich commanding more than a few dozen droids at the same time, a problem that threatened to shut down the whole project as Kingsway had promised that a single AI would be able to command hundreds, if not thousands of individual droids without any trouble. As such, Kingsway had to delay the project for months until the software had been sufficiently updated to deliver what Kingsway had promised. Hundreds of CAT Droids were then shipped to a UNSC weapons testing ground on Mars where the backers of the project got their first live test of droids. While still clunky and in need of smoothing out their programming a bit more, the droids showed great promise as they were able of great coordination thanks to Dietrich's quick reaction time and ability to collect visual and audible information from each of the droids. As the months went by and the project kept developing on Mars it was time for yet another live test in late . The droids had undergone several changes to meet their backers expectations. An entire redesign of the droids' software had been developed that allowed both "dumb" and "smart" AIs to easily command them. The droids' movements had also been drastically improved upon, allowing the droids to better match the reaction time of the AI commanding them, making them almost as fast as the average Spartan. Additionally, the droid had gotten a thicker outer plating that was designed to better protect it's hardware underneath from both kinetic and energy based projectiles. These upgrades, however, came with increased production cost than initially intended, though Kingsway argued that this increased cost would be more cost effective in the long run as the droids had become easier to maintain and could take much more punishment than the original prototype that was first displayed. Operation: Metal jack Operation: Metal Jack was the first true deployment of the CAT Droids alongside special forces. The operation was focused on taking out a rising insurrection group on the planet of and in early . The CAT Droids were all commanded by Dietrich, who was tasked with supporting the Army soldiers in their raids on the Insurrectionists hideouts. The droids proved to be a great asset when commanded by a "smart" AI though they were found a bit more lacking with a "dumb" AI though the operation gave way to establishing a form of hierarchy with a "smart" AI having command over several "dumb" AIs to better manage huge forces of CAT Droids though this system wouldn't come into use until much later on as such large quantities of droids still hadn't been produced at the time. As Operation: Metal Jack continued for more than five months there were a great deal of time to further polish the CAT Droids' systems and fix minor glitches that had gone unnoticed until now. The special forces that had been assigned a team of CAT Droids slowly began to appreciate the droids as they became an important element of the team when it came to dangerous situations where the risk of the human soldiers getting critically injured were high. The CAT Droids could operate well enough even if it had taken serve damage where a human soldier would most likely have been incapable of continuing fighting. Mass production ONI, having watched the sucess the CAT Droids had in Operation: Metal Jack, decided to contract Kingsway Robotics and asked for the droid to be massed produced for military and security use. Kingsway eagerly took the military contract and began mass producing the droids. A few different variants were even created. The Worker Variant, also known as CAT/W Droid, was created for heavy labor while variants like the Light Variant, CAT/L Droid, and the Stealth Variant, CAT/S Droid, served more specific roles within the military and police. The military contract requested an army of over 10,000 CAT droids to be produced and ready for deployment by 2560 and even more if the CAT Droid still proved to be a reliable military product. Kingsway saw that this order was too big for them with their current facilities and so wanted to open other factories in the newly reclaimed Outer Colonies and the newly established . Kingsway managed to establish a sizable foothold on multiple planets and more than seven factories were either completed or partly completed by the mid which began to produce the CAT Droids. While the production of the droid army was spread throughout multiple worlds, they were shipped back to Mars where they were put into storage at the Kingsway Robotics' central facility. ONI wasn't the only that had shown interest in the droid and minor companies began to place orders for droids to supplement their own security. What Kingsway didn't realize was that a sizable army of droids had been purchased by members of the mysterious Ember Coalition, specifically subsidiary company of Geb Constructions known as Severlance Frontiers and by the Grand Digger Union. Severlance Frontiers hoped to benefit greatly from the CAT droids in their quest to rebuild the frontier colonies and ordered an overwhelming 200,000 CAT/W Droids along with 25,000 standard CAT Droids. Created Crisis Appearance The CAT Droid looks roughly humanoid in shape with a faceless, black and white head that serves as its sensor array. Its CPU and other important systems are stored in its torso which is encased in a waterproof shell to protect its sensitive hardware from harm. Its entire body is covered in black and white armor plating, though it has weak points around it's major joints such as around it's shoulders. Two magnetic locks for holstering weapons are placed on its back and one more on each of its thighs. Specially designed bags and pouches can be attached around its hip to carry spare ammunition and tools. Systems and traits HUD Battery Motion systems The CAT Droids make use a powerful hydraulic system to move around. These systems are mostly located in the droid's limbs such as arms and legs underneath the armor plating and over a mechanical skeleton that the hydraulic system is attached to. This makes the droid's able to achieve high speeds and lift heavy objects not possible by regular humans of the same size as the droid. Most variants of the CAT Droid can reach a top speed of 30 kph (18.64 mph) while fully equipped for combat. The entire motion system is controlled from a central computer within the chest of the droid, making it easier for the AI commanding the droid to regulate the force output of each of the droid's movements if so desired. Variants Worker Variant The Worker variant CAT Droid, also known as the CAT/W Droid, was a civilian variant of the standard CAT Droid. It was designed for hard and dangerous labor and was usually used by companies that dealt with mining operations both on planets and in space. The Worker Droid could also be used in construction and due to its link to a "dumb" or "smart" AI they proved to be very effective labor. Geb Constructions began to make increasingly use of CAT/W Droids as of 2560 as well as the Grand Diggers Union was also beginning to take great interest in using these droids in their mining operations on dangerous planets and asteroid fields. Light Variant The Light variant CAT Droid, CAT/L Droid, was developed to less combat orientated roles than the standard CAT Droid such as and private security. The Light variant have had its armor stripped down to a bare minimum to lower costs and are usually equipped with weapons and gear usually issued to police forces across human space. Stealth Variant The Stealth variant, shortened CAT/S Droids, are a standard CAT Droid upgraded for infiltration and special operations. The Droid outfitted with photoreactive panels otherwise found on the and a more powerful battery to deal with the energy consumption of the panels. CAT/S's are painted jet black by default. Gallery Droidsforsale-total-recall-synth.jpg|A full view of the CAT Droid's body Category:UNSC Category:Office of Naval Intelligence